Restoring downland dewponds:
In 2022 and 2023, through the Discovering Dewponds project, twelve large ponds in the South Downs National Park were restored for wildlife by Froglife. This includes five dewponds surrounding National Trust Saddlescombe Farm, three dewponds at Stanmer Park, Brighton and four large ponds at the Ouse Estuary Nature Reserve. Alongside subsequent pond restorations led by the National Park and other partners, this work has helped to create an arc of amphibian breeding habitat in the eastern South Downs, supporting species including common toads (Bufo bufo) and great-crested newts (Triturus cristatus).
Listen above to Gill’s memory of visiting a downland dewpond and Jim’s of exploring the Downs in his youth, taken from a selection of memories forming the Discovering Dewponds Reminiscence Project:
Creating and restoring urban ponds:
Alongside dewpond restoration work, between 2021 and 2024 Froglife has installed a series of wildlife habitats, including ponds, to create three Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridors in Brighton. Wildlife corridors, defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as ‘a narrow area of land that is a habitat for wild animals and plants and that connects other habitats across an area where they cannot easily live’, are important for amphibians and reptiles living in towns and cities. Common toads, for example, need large breeding ponds that are well connected to areas to forage and overwinter, including allotment sites, gardens and woodland.
Case study: Hollingbury and Hollingdean Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridor:
Working with local communities, the Discovering Dewponds project has created three flagship wildlife ponds in Hollingbury and Hollingdean. One pond was created in Balfour Primary School‘s nature area, another was built just across Ditchling Road in Hollingbury Woods with the Friends of Hollingbury and Burstead Woods, and one more installed in the Hollingdean Park Community Orchard with Growing Hollingdean. These connect-up existing ponds to one-another, including those at Dorothy Stringer School and Hertford Junior School. Other habitats have been created in the area through the project – including five hibernacula (overwintering habitat for amphibians and reptiles), two bog garden ponds and three wildflower patches. Finally, Froglife has provided advice and equipment to local residents to empower them to create habitats in their own gardens, allotments and local greenspaces, for example mini-ponds.
How can you help these habitats?
Ponds and the wildlife living in them are sensitive to disturbance. It is important that dogs are not allowed to enter the water, so please keep your furry friends on a lead when passing a pond. Dogs not only disturb wildlife, but stir-up sediment in the water, reducing water quality, can wear down the pond margins and prevent aquatic plants from establishing, and, ultimately, can puncture the pond liner with their sharp claws. Additionally, flea and tick treatments carried on dogs fur can transfer into ponds and harm the underwater invertebrate life.
If you spot any amphibians or reptiles in or around a pond please let us know by recording the sighting on Froglife’s Dragon Finder App. A good time to look is in the Spring; frogs and toads typically lay their spawn in February and March and newts breed in ponds from March to June. Your records help us to map and monitor amphibian and reptile populations.
Finally, consider installing a habitat in your garden or local greenspace. Get inspired through our Wildlife at Home page and see our Just Add Water guide for advice for creating and maintaining a wildlife pond.